Bodies still line the street in the devastated city of Tacloban, as looting
persists and evacuees trickle out, four days after Typhoon Haiyan tore
through the region

As the cleanup began, Tacloban, in Leyte province, still had no functioning morgue.

The dead were collected and stored on the side of the road – many uncovered.

The official death toll from the disaster stood at 1,774 on Tuesday, though authorities have said they expect that to rise markedly.

Looting is becoming an increasing concern. In one part of the city on Monday, residents gathered at a petrol station forecourt to scoop fuel out of an underground tank using a plastic bottle attached to a long stick.

"If we see someone from another town whom we suspect of looting we encourage them to just go home. If we see people getting food, in light of military considerations, we just let them be," said Elmer Cinco, Chief of Police in Calbayog town.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has said he is considering declaring a state of emergency or martial law in stricken city.

Evacuees continue to flee; one hundred more young, old and injured people arrived in Manila from Tacloban on Tuesday morning.

They arrived into the capital aboard a military aeroplane and spoke of the desperate situation in the city with one survivor claiming there was no food, medicine or water.

As local authorities struggled to deal with the enormity of the disaster, the United Nations said it had had released £16m in emergency funds and was launching an emergency appeal for money.

"The priorities are food, people need access to food and they need it now. And not just in Tacloban city, but outside. They need water. Clean water to drink and water to wash in," said Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, from the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, on the ground in Tacloban.

"They need sanitation and hygiene kits, because there's an extremely dirty environment. And those carrying injuries already are going to get sick very soon," he said.

Only a tiny amount of assistance has arrived and the needs of the nearly 10 million people affected by the disaster are growing ever more urgent.